Paul Ramon Matia (born 1937) is a former

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (in case citations, N.D. Ohio) is the federal trial court for the northern half of Ohio, encompassing most territories north of the city of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The court has courthou ...

Education and career

Matia was born in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

in 1959. He received a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1962. He was in private practice in

Fairview Park Fairview Park may refer to: Australia *Fairview Park, South Australia Canada *CF Fairview Park (aka Fairview Park Mall), a shopping centre in Kitchener, Ontario Hong Kong *Fairview Park (Hong Kong), a private residential estate in the New Territ ...

, Ohio from 1962 to 1963. He was a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

, Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, Ohio from 1963 to 1966. He was an assistant state attorney general of Ohio from 1966 to 1969. He was an administrative assistant to state attorney general of Ohio from 1969 to 1970. He was in private practice in Fairview Park from 1971 to 1974. He was a member of the

Ohio State Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such t ...

from 1971 to 1975. He was in private practice in Cleveland from 1975 to 1985. He once again served in the state senate from 1979 to 1982 He was a Vice President of Van Meter, Ashbrook & Associates from 1982 to 1984. He was a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, Ohio from 1985 to 1991.

Federal judicial service

Matia was nominated by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

on June 27, 1991, to the

, to a new seat created by . He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on November 15, 1991, and received his commission on November 18, 1991. He served as Chief Judge from 1999 to 2004. During his time as a judge, he was notable for restoring

John Demjanjuk John Demjanjuk (), born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demjanjuk (), was a Trawniki and Nazi camp guard at Sobibor extermination camp, Majdanek, and Flossenbürg. Demjanjuk became the center of global media attention in the 1980s, when he was tried and ...

's United States citizenship in 1998 but later revoking it in 2002 after a new trial. He assumed senior status on December 31, 2004. Matia's service ended on May 31, 2005, due to retirement. Matia later worked for the Porter Wright Morris & Arthur law firm in its Cleveland office, but has since retired.

References

Sources

*
Matia's profile at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matia, Paul Ramon 1937 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Case Western Reserve University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Lawyers from Cleveland Ohio state court judges Politicians from Cleveland Republican Party Ohio state senators United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush 20th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly